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Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a rookie cop apparently named John Blake in the upcoming Batman film The Dark Knight Rises. There’s been a lot of speculation about the role this character plays in the story, with many fans (including yours truly) suspecting there is more to John Blake than we might realize.

Well, I'm here today to answer a question that fans have been debating online for weeks now: Is John Blake actually director Christopher Nolan's version of Dick Grayson, aka Robin, aka Nightwing?

I believe the answer to that question is "Yes," and I'm here to try and prove it to you. Read on!

First, you should know that nowadays Dick Grayson's actual full name in the comics is Richard John Grayson. John Grayson was Dick Grayson's father, the father who eventually died along with Dick's mother, Mary, leading to Dick being taken in by Batman and later becoming Robin. In adulthood, Dick left Bruce's side and set out on his own with the new masked identity Nightwing.

Second, you should know that in adulthood, Dick Grayson became a street cop as his daytime identity. This helped him know the city better, learn more about crime and criminals in his area, and so on.

Now, we've only seen a very little bit about the film character John Blake, but what we've seen is that he's a young cop whom the trailers depict assisting Batman in the fight against Bane, and Blake is shown having some sort of involvement with an orphanage/boys home. Blake also goes around drawing a little chalk bat-like symbol as a sign calling for Batman to return to Gotham as well as apparently some kind of sign of solidarity among the resistance to Bane (the latter point is not entirely certain/clear, but the chalk bat-emblem seems to definitely be used as some kind of sign among the folks resisting Bane).

Okay, let's take a closer look at that chalk symbol...

While that mildly resembles a bat-symbol, there's something ELSE it resembles even more. Take a gander at this...

Do you see more resemblance between those two, than between the chalk image and a bat-symbol? I sure do!

That's the strongest link, I feel, between Blake's character and Nightwing. But WAIT, how about a subtle little nod to Robin as well? Look at what happens if we flip the chalk bat-symbol upside down...

Yep. It's a bird.

MIND. BLOWN.

So, a cop named John who assists Batman, who uses a symbol that upside-up looks like Nightwing's emblem and upside-down looks like a robin bird. To top it all off, this is the final Batman film, the end of the legend, and I think Nolan wants to create a complete Batman mythology that touches on the most iconic elements of the Batman mythos. So I feel the inclusion of some sort of nod to Dick Grayson is something Nolan might really want to include.

So, is John Blake really Dick Grayson, using a new last name because he was adopted from that orphanage? Will this be the "realistic" depiction of Robin/Nightwing for Nolan's Batman universe? I think so, and I think the above evidence supports the theory pretty well.

What do you think, dear readers? Have I convinced you that it's at least very possible John Blake will turn out to be Dick Grayson, under an adopted name? Sound off in the comments below!

UPDATE 1: Many readers have expressed skepticism about my claim that Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character draws any of the chalk bats. First, I must make a correction and note that in fact, I waswrong -- there is no scene in the trailers that clearly and without question shows John Blake drawing the chalk bats. I've also deleted two of my remarks in the comments section that included elaboration about this matter, and for now I should refrain from discussing or explaining further about the details. That said, I will also note that I do not retract my view that John Blake definitely draws the chalk bats, although in any discussions I'll just say, "Yes, he draws the chalk bats," and have to leave it at that for now.

Other readers have expressed skepticism about my claim that Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character has anything to do with an orphanage. Besides the shots of Gordon-Levitt speaking to one of the kids directly (on a bench on a rooftop) in some trailers, there is also the shot of Gordon-Levitt standing beside a yellow bus on a bridge at 44 seconds into trailer #3, and on the side of the bus it says "Home For Boys." I believe there will be additional links between Gordon-Levitt's character and the boys home.

UPDATE 2: Watch Tuesday for some new officially released info that will play a big role in shaping the future of this discussion. No, there won't be any official announcement or anything like that, but a book will release on Tuesday that reveals key details of John Blake's background and role in the film, and I suspect a lot of folks are going to shift their position a bit! ;)

UPDATE 3: Today ends my personal embargo on discussing details about the film, so SPOILER WARNING if you've still not seen the film, folks!

So, for all you doubters -- Blake drawing the chalk symbols? Check. Blake linked to the orphanage? Check. Blake being a major ally to Batman? Check. Blake having a history that was clearly a mix of Grayson and Tim Drake? Check (his father's death due to gambling, for example, was straight from Drake's origin, as did his confronting Bruce about obviously being Batman, while his job as a cop and more mature/adult role as ally was a Nolanized "realistic" Nightwing/Grayson). Blake being literally "Robin?" CHECK and MATE!

However, despite the fact I was correct about all of those main points, and the fact that Blake was undeniably "Robin" in the film (let's not have any halfhearted attempts at denials, it was his actual name in the film, after all), I also said I expected him to be revealed as having the true legal name "Grayson," but that didn't happen. Although I was right about a "twist" reveal of him having a different legal name, I have no trouble admitting I was obviously wrong in suspecting it would be "Grayson." But on the other hand, I'll just point out that in fact the film only shows him ask if there's anything for John Blake, and he's told no, but then he says "check my legal name" and we are not told the FULL legal name. If his last name was still "Blake," don't you think it might be likely the woman would've noticed it on the list? But she says there's nothing for him, until he slips her an ID and then she finds the bag in his name. Why would she not mention a bag for "Robin Blake" or "Robin J. Blake" if it were there? Or why wouldn't she ask if "John" was his first name, to see if maybe the "Blake" on the list was for him? So, with the only part of his legal name revealed as "Robin," I would argue it's at least possible to interpret it as open-ended enough to suggest MAYBE he had another last name as well, and we just can't be sure.

Still, I'll concede that no mention of "Grayson" was made -- but I'll take "Robin" as a kind of win for my theory anyway!

FYI, in private message board discussions and emails, I also theorized that whatever Bane's weapon was (my guess was an Earthquake machine, so I was wrong about that), I believed Batman would fake his own death by using his flying vehicle to take the weapon out into the sea where it would detonate, but we'd get a final reveal of him alive as Bruce at the end. I made that prediction many months ago, without any inside information, so I'm kind of proud about that one since it was very specific and turned out correct. And for more than two years, I insisted that Talia would be in the movie, even alongside Catwoman. Bane was on my short-list of three or four villains who might be the "big baddie" in the film a year or so ago, too. And I thought the film would include Bruce attempting to use his wealth for philanthropy and that he'd end his "playboy" routine, too. Not a bad record on predictions, all in all!